Liberta in Astri
by Evilkitten3
Summary: He offers her his hand, and, for a moment, things don't seem so bad. Or, five times she wasn't okay and the one time she was. (For Jelano weekend, on Tumblr)
1. Heavens

**Title** : Liberta in Astri

 **Summary** : He offers her his hand, and, for a moment, things don't seem so bad. Or, five times she wasn't okay and the one time she was.

 **Pairings** : Jelano

 **AN: I wrote this for the first day of Jelano weekend, "Heaven", of which there is only about forty minutes left, so let's hope I can get this done in time. I should probably warn you that it is likely to be very short.**

Their first meeting isn't overly dramatic – there's no whips or cracking thunder or dragons carrying off princess. She trips over the chains binding her feet, and he reaches out to her. No one else does, for fear of the guards' whips, but she's seen him stand up to the guards before – seen him take a whip to the face unflinchingly – and she doesn't think anything scares him, really.

"Are you okay?" he asks, helping her up. She nods, cheeks red underneath the dirt and mud caking her face, but she makes no attempt to respond, so he returns to work after giving her a gentle smile.

Their second meeting is scarier, because there's a guard yelling at her for being unable to fulfill her quota of rocks due to an injured ankle, and he gets in the way and takes the beating for her. This time, she does thank him, and the smile he gives her is much wider than before.

The third time is terrifying. There's a rebellion, people are running around, and she's doing her best to avoid getting run over. People are crowding onto the boats, some of them are laughing, and then he's there, looking terrified, screaming for them to get back on land. Not everybody makes it before the ships explode. This time, when he asks if she's okay and she says yes, his smile seems much less real than before.

The fourth time is the last for eight years. He's taken over everything, and now there's someone taking her and four others away. Whatever look he gives her when he says goodbye isn't a smile. She wonders if it ever was.

The fifth time, eight years later, might be the worst. She could handle him looking confidant, looking dark, looking cruel, but she can't handle the broken shell of a person, lost and confused and smiling at that red-haired Fairy girl, that he's become. She avoids him with everything she's got. He doesn't even know she's there.

The sixth time is the last, but not in a bad way. This time, he fights – really fights, not struggles to escape a hellhole, not psychotically tries to sacrifice an old friend, not pathetically throws himself in-between Titania and whatever might be harming her – but really _fights_ , and he shines so brilliantly on the battlefield that she wonders how her teammates and the observers of the fight can still see.

She's the second of the five to decide to follow him, and, this time, when he asks her if she's okay, she just laughs.

"I'm free," she says simply. And, really, what more needs to be said?


	2. Renegade

**Title** : Renegade

 **Summary** : Renegade: noun (archaic); a person who abandons religion; an apostate. (For Jelano weekend, day two); AU

 **Pairings** : Jelano

 **AN: I wrote this for the second day of Jelano weekend, "Renegade". I wrote this after watching** _ **The Big Short**_ **, so I'm not exactly in a cheerful mood. I honestly really hate people sometimes. Anyway, enjoy. Warning: Jellal's family is Jewish here.**

It started the day Jellal dropped out of school. No one saw it coming – not Erza, not Wally, not Erik and certainly not Sorano. One day, he just didn't show up, and a few days later, the teacher stopped marking him "absent", offhandedly noting that he would no longer be attending class.

It continued when one of Erik's younger siblings (all of whom had been adopted, including Erik), Wendy, reported that Jellal's younger sister Merudy (who was equally adopted) had stopped attending school as well.

It worsened when Lucy's honorary aunt, Grammi, who taught at a public middle school, discovered Merudy was now in one of her classes. Try as she might, neither Grammi nor her daughter Brandish could quite figure out why Merudy, who loved her private school teachers and friends, would suddenly change to a school she hated and was completely miserable at (though Grammi tried her best to make it work).

It became clear when Gray returned from an apparent sick week to explain what had happened. Ultear, the woman who had adopted both Jellal and Merudy, had been killed in a car accident, leaving 18-year-old Jellal in charge of Merudy.

Ultear had not been rich. Ultear had not believed in accepting charity. Ultear had taken her children (who were far too close to her in age, in all honesty) to synagogue every week and had prayed to the God she had died believing in. Ultear Milkovich had never once lost her faith.

But, walking into the bar where Jellal – illegally – worked, Sorano wondered if he'd ever believed at all. He gave her an empty smile, and told her they didn't serve minors. She'd punched him in the face and reminded him that she was a year older than him anyhow. She didn't order any alcohol – just water – and she left a generous tip, even though she hadn't technically bought anything. Jellal looked like he wanted to protest, but he bit his lip. Beggars couldn't be choosers, after all.

On her twenty-first birthday, Sorano had had her party at the bar, even though she knew most of her friends were too young to attend. It wasn't about the party, and everyone was fully aware of that. Still, Erik and Sawyer and Richard and Laxus and all the others who were allowed to be in a bar came. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but they dealt with it. They all bought drinks – real drinks – and gave too much tip, and Sorano stayed behind in the end.

"Jellal," she said quietly.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I didn't know it was your birthday. I didn't get a present."

"I know," she replied. "There's something else. Lucy told her mom." Jellal looked at her. He knew where this was going, but Sorano continued anyway. "Mrs. Heartfilia says that she's going to be paying Merudy's tuition from now on." The silver-haired woman bit her lip. "She also says she wants you to go back to school."

"Oh," Jellal said. He was quiet for a minute. "I–"

"She says she doesn't want to hear any arguments," Sorano cut him off. "And she also said that you can pay her back when you have the money."

"Didn't someone once say 'neither a borrower nor a lender be'?" Jellal asked.

"Polonius, from Hamlet," the Drama major told him. "He's not part of the Jewish faith; you don't have to listen to him."

"Most of us are bankers, though," Jellal thought out loud. "That's the stereotype, right?" She shrugged.

"Look into it; it'd pay better than this," she gestured around the now-empty bar.

"Still, shouldn't you take advice from Shakespeare, Ms. Drama Queen?" he asked, giving her a tiny smile that totally didn't make her feel butterflies.

"He also said, 'Give thy thoughts no tongue'," Sorano pointed out. "I never listened to that one either." He laughed.

"You're a rebel," he agreed.

"And you're working in a bar on a Friday night," she said, smirking. "Doesn't that make you a blasphemer?"

"Maybe." He said. "Either way, there's no arguing with Ms. Layla."

"Definitely not," Sorano said. "Lucy's just as bad." She didn't have anything else to say, so she turned to leave.

"Thanks," he called after her. She shrugged.

"Thank Mrs. Heartfilia," she replied. "Or Lucy. Whatever. I had nothing to do with it." He watched her walk off, lifting her hand in farewell.

"Nice girl you got there," his boss said. "Don't let go of her, you hear me?"

"It's not like that," Jellal told him. His boss laughed and walked off.

Jellal had never been a very good liar.


	3. Freedom

**Title** : Freedom

 **Summary** : She likes to think he's watching her, sometimes, but years go by and it doesn't stop hurting. (Jelano weekend, day three)

 **Pairing** : Jelano

 **AN: I'll apologize in advance for the angst, but I couldn't think of anything, and angst is my default, so… yeah. Sorry.**

It still hurts – weeks later, months later, probably years later too. She knows everyone can see it, but she doesn't know if they pity her because she never had a snowball's chance in hell or because now nobody does. There's no tension between her and Erza, really, but it hurts to be in the same room with the redhead, so Sorano avoids her whenever possible. She avoids Yukino and the rest of Crime Sorcière too, for a while.

"Can we talk?" Merudy asks one day. It's been a year, now, and she still wakes up with pain in her chest. She shrugs.

"We're talking right now," she says. Merudy sighs.

"That's not what I mean." But she doesn't push it, and Sorano is grateful for that.

Another year goes by, and then another, and the world keeps turning. Merudy smiles more often now, and Crime Sorcière is eventually pardoned for their assistance in the war, and Erik can talk to Kinana without everyone pretending he isn't.

Unsurprisingly, Erik and Merudy are the first to go. No one is quite sure when it happens, but at some point the Crime Sorcière mark is replaced with a Fairy Tail one, and no one questions it. Richard goes to Lamia Scale to see Jura and ends up staying. Sawyer falls in with the Quatro Cerberus crowd. Macbeth joins Blue Pegasus once Bob says he can sleep all he likes, so long as he's pretty (which he is).

Sorano stays. None of the others ask her why. They know better. She isn't a guild by herself, and she doesn't take any real jobs, but she still goes out and hunts Dark Guilds on her own.

"It isn't safe," Erik tells her. He doesn't think it'll dissuade her, but he feels obligated to point it out.

"It's better than nothing," she says.

"I'm sure you'd be welcome in Saber Tooth," Yukino tries. Her puppy dog eyes almost move her sister, but not quite.

"I don't belong there," she says.

"You could come to Lamia," Lyon offers.

"I'd rather not." She says. Blue Pegasus doesn't extend her an offer, and she's grateful for that. She isn't welcome there, and she appreciates them not trying to pretend otherwise. Sawyer tells the guys in Quatro Cerberus not to bother.

"She's already been in an all-guys guild," he explains, "she doesn't want to be in another one." He's not wrong. Fairy Tail makes several offers as well, but Sorano keeps the symbol of Crime Sorcière on her stomach. She doesn't want to let go.

"This isn't what he'd want," she hears. At first she thinks it's Erza, but the voice is wrong. It's a swordswoman, though – the one _he_ mentioned, the Mermaid Heel girl.

"You don't know," she says.

"I do, actually," Kagura tells her. "That's why I'm here. I don't know you, so I don't particularly care about you, but I care about Yukino, and I care about Erza, and I know that they care about you." She takes a deep breath. "And I know you lost someone special, someone who meant the world to you, but–"

"He gave me a choice," Sorano interrupts her. Kagura makes a confused sound, but the older woman doesn't turn to look at her. "He looked me in the eye and told me he would accomplish something impossible, for me. He knew my prayer, and he said he'd make it real. He made a promise."

"He would've kept it," Kagura says. "If he could've. That's the kind of person he was, I think. Erza said so." Sorano laughs. _Naivety_.

"You believe everything Erza says, then?" she asks.

"I believe in the man that Erza believes in," Kagura tells her. "I believe in the man my brother believed in."

"Your brother died fighting him," Sorano points out. Kagura shrugs.

"I think, deep down, he knew something was wrong," Kagura explains. "I think he stayed to try and save him."

"Didn't do a very good job,"

"That's your opinion."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here because this is where Simon would want me to be," Kagura says. "I'm here because Yukino and Erza and Merudy and the others are worried about you. I'm also here because I think Jellal is worried about you too." The sound of his name makes Sorano flinch – everyone's been avoiding the topic around her, and the word sounds so strange and uncertain now.

"What do you want?" Sorano asks. She knows the answer, but she wants to be wrong, wants so badly for the younger girl to start a fight.

"The Grand Magic Games are in a month," Kagura tells her. "Thanks to Fairy Tail and Saber Tooth, Mermaid Heel ends up coming in third or fourth place every year. With your help, I think we can win." Sorano snorts.

"That's your sales pitch?" she asks, amused. "'Come help us play a game'?"

"Will you?" Kagura asks. Sorano thinks for a minute.

"Yeah, okay." She agrees. "Whatever."

This year, Fairy Tail and Saber Tooth will have to settle for second place.

 **AN: Thanks for much for sticking with me these three days, guys. It's been a lot of fun. In fact, ya'll deserve an epilogue: Fairy Tail and Mermaid Heel tied for first place, with Saber Tooth one point behind them. The Games ended with a big fight between Team Fairy Tail (Freed, Merudy, Lisanna, Gray, and Evergreen) and Team Mermaid Heel (Kagura, Millianna, Sorano, Araña, and Risley). At the end, only Sorano and Evergreen were left standing, and the sass-fight that ensued was legendary. Sorano eventually won when one of her angels blinded Evergreen, allowing her to go in for the (metaphorical) kill. However, she wasn't sure which angel it had been, and when she summoned them to ask, all of them denied responsibility. When they looked at the lacrima recording to try and find out, they noticed that the light was tinged a very familiar shade of blue. Sorano Agria remained a member of Mermaid Heel until the day she died.**


End file.
